


a daydream (i never get to hold)

by ElizabethJonesIII



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Mentions of Abortion, Mutual Pining, Pining, jughead's kinda dumb but you love him anyway, kind of a combination of season one and the comics, slight AU, slight angst, there's a few mentions of varchie and choni but not enough to tag, this is soft, very little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 11:20:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21968473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElizabethJonesIII/pseuds/ElizabethJonesIII
Summary: It’s just like any other time. After another of Riverdale High’s completely idiotic boys stands Betty up, she asks Jughead to take her to the upcoming dance. It’s just like any other time. It’s completely platonic, nothing romantic or sexual happening between these two friends. It’s just like any other time. But if that’s the case, then why does seeing Betty Cooper in her red dress make Jughead’s heart skip a beat?
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 15
Kudos: 66
Collections: 6th Bughead Fanfiction Awards - Nominees, Bughead Secret Santa, Home for the HoliDale





	a daydream (i never get to hold)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Browneyesparker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Browneyesparker/gifts).



> This is my Bughead Secret Santa for the lovely @nothollywheeler on tumblr and @browneyesparker on AO3. I hope you enjoy this fluffy fic I wrote for you and Happy Holidays! (Title comes from a TS song because I'm trash.)

Betty Cooper was beautiful, there was absolutely no doubt about that. Despite this very well-known fact, she encountered endless trouble keeping dates. At the last second, they, the idiot boys of Riverdale High, always seemed to find someone "better." 

The Christmas dance was coming up and Betty had been asked by Trev Brown weeks ago, but suddenly a week before the dance he decided he wanted to go with Melody Valentine. So, he broke his date with Betty and she was left in the lurch….. again. Normally, Betty would just say screw it and not go or even go stag, but she had already bought a new dress and this was the Christmas dance. And being left on the sidelines during the last dance of the night was social suicide and high school was hard enough already. So, she decided to ask Jughead.

Although they were only friends, they usually ended up going to most dances and parties together. Betty may, or may not, have harbored a small crush on him when he started growing into his lankiness, and maybe that crush still slightly remained inside of her, but that was tossed out the window when she realized he was not interested in dating anyone.

Jughead, on the other hand, had no feelings of romance towards Betty. She was his partner in the newspaper, they enjoyed the same books, they liked the same movies, but he felt nothing romantic towards her. Sure, she was beautiful, and obviously, she was kind and smart and amazing and if he was ever going to fall for someone, he admitted to himself, it would definitely be her, but that was it. Food was easier to understand, it wasn’t a little scary like Cheryl Blossom, or slightly annoying like Veronica Lodge, or as confusing as Toni Topaz used to be when they used to play together in the trailer park. Yes, food was simpler. He didn’t understand the minds of guys like Reggie Mantle or Chuck Clayton, guys who were only interested in how many girls they could possibly get. (Surprisingly, to Jughead, it was usually a lot.) 

Besides, socialization was not Jughead’s favorite thing in the world and dating required a lot of that, of course, so did going to dances with close friends. But Jughead would do anything for Betty Cooper.

~~~

The two of them were sitting in a booth at Pop’s, the day that Trev dropped her when she asked him.

“Jug,” Betty said, “I know you hate these things, but Trev dumped me like a sack of potatoes earlier today, so I was hoping you were free the night of the Christmas dance. And that you could take me?”

“Well, I might have to move around my many dates with other women, but I should be able to make it work,” Jughead replied with a smile before biting into his burger.

“Thank you Juggie. You’re so sweet.”

“Only to you, Betty Cooper,” he replied with his mouth full.

The smile she gave him as she started sipping her milkshake, Jughead could only describe it as angelic.

~~~

Despite the fact that they were only going as friends, Jughead could see how completely and utterly happy she was to be going with him. 

Had she been this happy when she was going with Trev, Jughead thought to himself. He didn’t think so. 

Betty’s excitement and smiles were contagious, so when she talked with him about the dance, he found himself getting excited too.

~~~

The night of the dance arrived, exactly one week before Christmas. 

Although they went to a lot of dances together, the Christmas dance was new territory for the two of them. This was truly the kind of dance you went with someone you were really into, Jughead had heard stories that this was the night that most students lost their virginity. 

Jughead arrived at Betty’s front steps exactly a half-hour before the dance was to start. After he rang the doorbell, he waited, shifting the box that held the small corsage he had bought for the occasion from hand to hand.

Betty’s older sister Polly answered the door with an almost angry face, but when she saw it was him, her visage changed to a soft smile. She moved aside to let him in.

“Jughead, hi! Betty’s putting the finishing touches on her outfit, she’ll be down in just a second.”

As he walked into the living room, he could almost feel the tension between Polly and Alice Cooper, Betty’s mom.

“Jug Head, good evening,” Alice smiled very forcibly.

The room fell silent after the exchange of simple pleasantries. 

Suddenly, Jughead began to feel very nervous, not because of the obvious problems between the other two Cooper women as he originally thought, but because of something else entirely. Something he didn’t expect. He began to feel nervous in anticipation of Betty descending the stairs. But why, Jughead asked himself? It’s only Betty, he’s known her for years. She’s his best friend, he should be happy to see her, not nervous.

In the middle of his deliberating, Betty’s bedroom door opened and she began to come down the steps. Her hair was falling around her shoulders, free from the confines of the ponytail she usually wore, a red dress wrapped itself around her curves ending at her mid-thigh, black sheer stockings weaved themselves around her legs, the outfit ended with heeled black boots.

For a moment, Jughead’s mind cleared, and all he noticed was Betty Cooper and the harsh beating of his own heart.

“Hi, Juggie,” Betty said with a smile from her red painted lips.

Despite the fact that his entire heart was in his throat, Jughead managed to stammer out a reply.

“I know,” Betty said with a sigh, “the dress doesn’t suit me, but when we went shopping together Cheryl and V insisted. And they’re hard enough to say no to by themselves, so when they’re ganging up on you, it’s impossible.”

“No no, you look….” curse his brain, “ really nice.”

Her smile widened at his praise, “Thank you! Is that a corsage? For me?”

“Oh! Yeah, here,” he replied, handing her the box.

“You’re so sweet, Juggie,” Betty said, getting on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

He never managed to stammer out a response.

Betty retrieved her coat and she pulled him out the door without a word or a glance at her family.

~~~

When they arrived at the dance, the music was already playing and the dancing had already started.

Betty, with her arm in Jughead’s, made her way to the snack table.

“Betty Cooper, you know me too well, “ Jughead said with a smile, already stacking his plate high with food.

Cheryl and Toni come over to join them as soon as they spot them.

"See, I told you, cousin," Cheryl said, "I knew you would look absolutely stunning in that dress."

"You're always right, Cheryl," Betty replied with a chuckle, "Although, my mom basically had a fit when she saw it."

"Well, your mother only wears those frumpy pastel cardigans, so I wouldn't take her fashion advice too seriously."

"Thanks for the casual dig at my wardrobe, Cher."

"Always happy to help, cousin Betty," Cheryl said, blowing her a kiss then turning towards the dance floor with Toni.

“Do you have the energy for a dance, Jughead Jones?” Betty asked.

Jughead smiled, “Only for you.”

Before they walked onto the dance floor, Veronica walked up to the two of them.

“Hi B!,” Veronica exclaimed, while linking arms with Betty, “Archie’s getting ready to perform.”

“I didn’t think Archie was performing tonight, I thought we were just using a DJ,” Betty said.

“Well, we are for most of the night, but Archie insisted on playing a set or two. Plus, he said he wrote a special Christmas song for the occasion, which, he tells me, is the song he’s going to perform first.”

With that said, the trio heard Archie clearing his throat into the microphone, so they turned their attention towards the stage.

“Hi everyone, I know you didn’t expect to hear live music, but I wrote a very special Christmas song that I’d really like to share, so I begged the school to give me some time tonight,” Archie began, “This song is actually written, not for Christmas, but for the person in my life that makes me happier than I’ve ever been, so I’d suggest for this song that you dance with the person that means the most to you,” Archie paused, “Just don’t dance with Veronica Lodge ‘cause I need her to hear this and save this dance for me.”

Jughead glanced towards Betty and noticed tears in her eyes, he then glanced in the direction she was looking to find Trev Brown and Melody Valentine dancing. Jughead hadn’t known that she had had feelings for Trev.

“Hey Betts, are you okay?” Jughead asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah Jug, I’m fine. Can you please walk me home?” Betty asked, putting her hand in his.

“Sure, of course.”

Betty simply smiled her thanks as she led him out the door.

“Jughead, do you mind if we take the scenic route home?”

“No, of course not. Whatever you want, Betts.”

Betty released his hand and walked ahead of him.

Jughead thought for a moment, then jogged to catch up to her.

“I didn’t know that you really liked Trev,” Jughead said.

Betty very suddenly stopped and looked at Jughead with a confused look on her face, “What?”

“Well, you were looking in his direction back at the dance and you were crying, so I just thought that you must really like him.”

Betty looked confused for half a second longer, then she burst out laughing, “Jughead, I can promise you that I don’t like Trev, the only reason we were going to the dance together in the first place was because he asked me. I would’ve preferred to just go with you, but he asked and you don’t care for these kinds of things, so I accepted. It was all just convenient placing.”

“Then why were you crying in the gym and why did you ask me to take you home?”

Betty sighed, linked her arm with Jughead’s, and continued walking forward.

“I asked to leave the dance, because, to be honest, I’m really not in the Christmas mood right now. And I was crying because things aren’t that great at home right now.”

Jughead gave her a questioning glance but asked no further questions, knowing first hand the trauma of a messed-up home life.

“Polly’s pregnant.”

At this, Jughead stopped, “What?”

“Yep, you heard me right, Polly is pregnant, hard to believe, I know. But it’s true, and Jason Blossom appears to be the culprit.”

This was certainly a lot of things to take in at once. Polly was known as the girl-next-door of senior year, perfect grades and perfect manners. The fact of Polly and Jason Blossom dating had knocked the school upside down. BMOC, playboy, golden boy Jason Blossom “settling” for prim, proper Polly Cooper was the shock of the century. But they had now been dating since junior year, so the dust had settled long ago, but when or if this got out, it would be an explosion.

“Since my parents found out, my mom and Polly have been fighting non-stop. It’s like living in a battle zone. My mom wants Polly to get an abortion, but Polly wants to drop out of school, get a job, and keep the baby. I don’t know which one is right, but they refuse to listen to each other. I tried once to get them to actually talk to each other, instead of having a screaming match, but my mom yelled at me to stay out of it and that I’m too young to understand. This erupted into another fight because Polly didn’t want Mom yelling at me, so I haven’t really tried again. And I don’t get how “I’m too young to understand” when Polly is only a year older than me.”

“Wow,” was all Jughead could respond at the moment.

Betty laughed, “Yeah, you’re right. Wow. My dad’s also tried to step in and stop the fights, but his attempts also ended in failure. All I really want is for them to stop screaming at each other long enough to reach a compromise.”

“I don’t really know the whole situation, but maybe you should try to get them to talk again. I know it’s hard to get people to actually talk to each other when they don’t want to, but you have to try.”

“Yeah. I know you’re right, Juggie. It’s just hard ‘cause most of the time I just really don’t want to go home, like tonight.”

“Well, we have plenty of time before your curfew, so we can do whatever you want to at night in Riverdale.”

Betty smiled, “Okay, we can go look at the Christmas lights in my neighborhood and then head over to Pop’s for some hot chocolate for me and a burger for you.”

“As I said before, you know me too well, Cooper.”

~~~

As they walked down Elm Street together, Jughead started to get that strange beating in his chest again as he watched Betty smile at the colorful displays. Jughead had never really been a holiday person, they really didn’t get presents when he was younger, so it was mostly the time of year that he listened to kids like Reggie Mantle brag about all the amazing gifts that their parents bought for them. Thinking back on it now, a lot of those presents were probably made up. But right at this moment, he decided that if he could watch the lights twinkle in Betty’s bright green eyes, then maybe Christmas wasn’t so bad after all.

Suddenly, he felt being pulled down into a snowdrift.

“Betty, what the hell?” Jughead asked as he regained his composure.

Betty just burst out laughing at him, “I’m making a snow angel, you should join me.”

“That would ruin my reputation of being the emo loner if anyone saw me,” Jughead replied with a chuckle.

Betty’s face got very serious for a moment, “I solemnly swear I will tell no one of the events of this night.”

She crossed her heart, then returned with a smile on her face to her snow angel.

Jughead eventually laid down and join her.

“I wish we were at Sweetwater River, away from the lights. There, you can see all the stars in the sky, here you can only make out the bare minimum.”

“Well, how about this, Betts, I’ll take you there when it gets warmer.”

“It’s a date, Jug,” she replied, turning towards him.

At even the casual mention of the word ‘date,’ his heart did the slightest flip flop. God, what was wrong with him, Jughead thought to himself.

Betty stared at him for a moment longer, then she looked back towards the sky, and Jughead wasn’t sure if it was the cold or the bright Christmas lights, but she looked almost like she was blushing.

Betty slowly got to her feet, “Ready to hit Pop’s, Jug?”

Jughead bounded to his feet, “Have ever known me to not be ready?”

“Oh Juggie, your snow angel,” Betty said with a laugh, “You have to get up slowly for it to not get messed up.”

“Who cares? I’ve heard the promise of a burger.”

Betty simply laughed again.

God, Trev was an idiot, was the last thought Jughead had before they headed off to Pop’s.

~~~

When they arrived at Pop’s, they waited by the door to tell Pop their order before they sat down.

Once Pop was done with his customer, he noticed them, “You two picked the wrong place to stand, now you have to kiss.”

“Say again, Pop?” Betty asked.

“The mistletoe. It’s not a requirement, just tradition.”

“Well, who are we to mess with tradition,” Betty said, before planting a chaste kiss on Jughead’s cheek, “I’ll have a hot chocolate with whipped cream, Pop.”

Jughead stood in his spot frozen, until Pop asked, “And you, son?”

“Oh, uh… the usual.”

“Coming right up.”

As they walked to their favorite booth, Betty asked, “Jug, are you okay? I’ve never seen you take that long to order something from Pop’s.”

“Oh yeah, I was thinking about your home situation.”

“Oh okay. I thought maybe the fact that I kissed your cheek made you mad or something,” Betty chuckled.

“No, of course not.”

“Or something” was incredibly correct. The moment that Betty’s lips had touched his cheek, he swore he felt his entire heart stop. Was he, Jughead Jones, notorious loner, developing a crush on his best friend?

“So, Juggie, do you have any sage advice to give to me about my family situation?”

Jughead thought for a moment, “I think the best thing you can do with this is just take a chance, find a moment where you can get them to listen. Maybe a point in time where they’re civil with each other. Like maybe…. Christmas morning or something.”

Betty smiled, “Thanks Jug, that’s some pretty good advice. I’ll take it to heart, but, for now, let’s talk about something more fun. Any topic you want, just not my family.”

Jughead smiled back at her and started talking about the first thing that came into his mind.

Betty was easy to talk to. Jughead never found himself at a loss with her, so why on earth would he ruin it by developing a crush. So right at that moment, laughing in their booth at Pop’s, he decided to forget his crush right then and there.

Somewhere along the line, his plan got fucked.

~~~

Promptly three minutes before Betty’s curfew, they were rounding her driveway corner.

As they stood at her front door, Betty smiled, “Thanks for walking me home, Jug.”

“Always a pleasure.”

He turned on his heel to start his trek back home when Betty called out his name. He turned around to see her a few paces behind him. He started to speak, but she then put her hands on his shoulders and stood on her tippy toes.

“What are you doing, Betts?” Jughead asked his face inches from hers.

“Taking a chance,” she replied before leaning in.

And suddenly the world seemed to fall away from him, it lost all color and the only light that remained was Betty Cooper. Betty was kissing him and he found himself kissing her back. Jughead had never kissed anyone before, but he found himself seemingly knowing what to do. All too soon, though, she was leaning away.

“So Jughead, can you promise that the next time you take me to Pop’s it’ll be a date?”

At a loss for words, he simply nodded his head. Betty giggled and left one last kiss on his cheek as she turned away, turning around once more to give him a wave as she entered her home.

Jughead stood in the yard for a moment before turning around and starting home. Jughead didn’t know what the world held for him, or for Betty, but for once, he found he didn’t care. He only smiled against the cold wind when the thought of dating Betty Cooper entered his mind.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope y'all liked it, if you did please feel free to leave me a comment or come talk to me on tumblr @elizabethjonesiii.


End file.
